By Cynthia Wands

I had my first gin martini this weekend after some years of staying away from martinis. After a difficult week, I was thinking of villains and forgiveness.

On Saturday I saw a matinee performance of Patrick Page in his one man show: ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. It was a virtuoso performance in a well written, beautifully executed production, with a full house, and a rapt audience. This is an extraordinary performer with a full, deep resonant voice – able to give full meaning to Shakespeare’s villains. His command of the language was extraordinary. The beautiful vibration of his voice was seductive and powerful and illuminating.

And then. A few minutes just before the end of the performance, his on-body microphone failed. I’m not sure if it fell off, or if there was technical issue, but the sound of his voice changed immediately.

This is an actors nightmare. (Also, a nightmare for the sound technician and the stage manager). He continued speaking, but without amplification, and still gave a beautiful performance.

Although the Broad has wonderful acoustics, now he was almost hard to hear (sitting center orchestra), in contrast to his forceful volume that we had heard for almost 90 minutes. His last climatic section, Prospero from THE TEMPEST, was heard as a much softer, quieter monologue. Very wisely, he did not try to roar out the last bits, this was a matinee and he had an evening show in a few hours. I thought he handled the problem with such grace, he gave a really wonderful performance, and afterwards he hosted a talk back session with the audience, where he spoke with perfect volume.

It sparked an old observation for me that well spoken men, loud men, men that that fill the space and focus with the sound of their voice – have incredible power. The Alpha Male speaks and the vibration of authority is acknowledged.

This vocal power also played into the enjoyment of seeing men as villains who embody the world of evil – the sociopath. The curious audience satisfaction of seeing a villain who loves being bad, getting away with it, flapping about with the sins of an evil mind.

And the contrast, when the vocal power was reduced – when the voice was not overwhelming – then the specter of evil seemed smaller. It brought me to think about women’s voices, their vocal power, how they are heard when they have focus and authority. How do they sound when they are the villain?

It also brought to mind all the stage accidents I have ever seen and been in over the years – the missed entrances, the batteries that fall out of the floating candelabra, the onstage phone that doesn’t ring, the medical emergencies, the play that does go wrong. The absolute nerve you need to pick up that cue, substitute the missing prop, try and jump back into the music when you mess up the lyrics.

So after that performance, I’ve been thinking a lot about villains. The villains in our life right now. With the incessant bombardment of news about evil sociopaths and immigrant hunting villains and political mayhem – I did think – I might need a gin martini. Maybe later.

And an interesting tie in to the idea of villains and force, and all that, was a wonderful service I attended to celebrate the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a little church here in Woodland Hills. This was a anniversary of the sermon Dr. King gave at the church 65 years ago – and a marvelous actor – Mr. Gerald Rivers, gave an incredible performance, as he embodied Dr. King’s words and person. It was a packed house in the church, and the gospel songs the choir sang beforehand were so uplifting. But it was his performance of Dr. King that really pierced my heart. I especially heard themes of forgiveness: “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.”

Mr. Gerald Rivers, an extraordinary actor who brought the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to life.

I did hear Mr. Rivers share the story of his path to portray Dr. King, and his own advice to us was “Forgive Everybody”. I heard him say that and I found myself shaking my head. No sir, I am not forgiving everybody. No way, no how, not then, not now. And then I sat with that for a while and realized I have to do some more thinking about forgiveness. And later on that evening, when I was home with my cat Ted, and we were blinking at one another, I realized. Now would be the time for that gin martini.

After the recent focus I had on villains and sociopaths, this idea of forgiveness was a real challenge. Here’s to the inspiration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mr. Gerald Rivers. Thank you.